OK, this is going to be an... unconventional defense of the Jedi Order, so here goes. I know it doesn't seem like Jedi defense at first; just bear with me. We'll get there. Eventually...
I think a number of the problems people ascribe to the Jedi Order are actually the fault of bad writing. The single best example of this is the clone chips.
Regarding the chips vs. genetic/conditioned blind obedience debate, I'm ambivalent. I don't really see much of a difference between them. Either the clones have little to no free will because of the chips, or they have little to no free will because the Kaminoans conditioned them that way. Potato, potahto. If you put a gun to my head and told me to choose, I'd probably side with the chips because they increase the degree to which you can develop the clone-Jedi relationship before it becomes unrealistic that any amount of conditioning would be able to cause Order 66. However, on a meta-level, I have a huge problem with the chips, in that the chips represent a single plot object that has the potential to irreparably damage the continuity in the hands of bad or careless writers.
Thank god there were none of those on TCW's writing team!
The most problematic episode in TCW is The Lost One, S6E10. In this episode, Obi-wan, Anakin, and the Jedi Council find out...
... thus revealing the truth about the creation of the clone army.
This is in the top ten worst writing decisions in all of Star Wars.
When people accuse the Jedi of arrogance, this is usually the go-to episode they point to as evidence. Because frankly... they're not wrong. Let me elaborate by going through the last scene of the episode.
Let's get to it.
Yoda: "Know now, we do, that guide the creation of the clones from the beginning, Dooku did."
You sure do.
Yoda: "Hmm... our enemy created an army for us."
They sure did!
Mace: "If this was known, public confidence in the war effort, the Jedi, and the Republic would vanish. There would be mass chaos."
Uhh... Mace? I think there's a bigger fucking problem here. That being that the clone army was created by your ancestral nemesis as an integral part of their Grand Plan to destroy you. I think that takes precedence over all other considerations, no?
Yoda: "Cover up this discovery we must. No one, not even the Chancellor, may know."
OK, fair enough. You don't know where the Sith are, and it also seems like a good time to start heeding Dooku's warning on Geonosis about a Sith controlling the Senate. So, what are you going to do about the army, the army for the Sith, the army specifically made by the Sith for the Jedi, the Sith's army.
That army?
Yoda: "Valiant men the clones have proven to be."
Uhh... what?
Yoda: "Saved my life and yours..."
Uhh, what are you doing?
Yoda: "... they have many times."
That's not...
Yoda: "Believe in them we must."
Wait... no—
Yoda: "Win the war swiftly, we must, before our enemy's designs reach completion, whatever they may be."
Wha—what exactly do ya think they could be?! You're literally surrounded by a fucking army of super-soldiers made by the Sith specifically for you! It shouldn't be hard to put two and two together here.
Mace: "Are you sure we are taking the right path?"
NO! FOR FUCKS SAKE!
Yoda: "Hmm... the right path, no."
OK, getting warmer...
Yoda: "The only path... yes."
NO! FUCK me!
Yoda: "Designed by the Dark Lord of the Sith, this web is."
Ya. It sure is. Are you going to do something about that?
Yoda: "For now, play his game we must."
What the hell are you talking about, you dementia-addled gremlin?! You know know, for a fact, that the MASSIVE CLONE ARMY that surrounds every one of you nearly every hour of every day was created by the Sith. It is a part of the Sith Grand Plan. It is almost certainly the most integral part of the Sith Grand Plan. Did you get a concussion out on campaign?! Are the ketamine rumors true?!
Let. Me. Spell. This. Out. For. You.
The clone army.
Was created by the Sith.
It is their tool.
It is their weapon.
The Sith have been planning the entire Clone Wars for over a decade. They were planning it even as far back as Naboo.
Ya know. Where Qui-gon was murdered by a Sith. Almost certainly the Apprentice, meaning the Master is still out there operating unhindered.
You are playing their game. You are surrounded by their army. An army they tricked you into commanding, as part of their plan to destroy you.
It does👏not👏matter👏what kind of men the clones are. They are your enemy. They can never not be your enemy.
The Sith have been planning for this for a thousand goddamn years. Do you seriously think they would leave even the slightest chance that the massive super-soldier army integral to their plan could be used against them?
You now know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this entire goddamn war was orchestrated by the Sith. And you're just going to play this out? Roll around in a giant Jedi Order-sized mousetrap waiting for it to snap? Worse, you're going to do their job for them by accelerating the end of the Clone Wars? Rushing to the endgame "before our enemy's designs reach completion"? How do you know they already haven't?
You're seriously not going to do anything about it?!
Oh. Right.
You can't. You are completely, unambiguously, irrevocably, narratively unable to do anything.
Because Revenge of the Sith came first.
This is one of the problems you encounter writing any prequel; the ending is absolutely fixed. The Jedi can never find out about Order 66. The Jedi can never take any action that averts RotS. This means the writers need to take special care not to give them anything that should logically, reasonably, cause them to change their course, right? Otherwise, they will look lead-poisoning levels of stupid, right?
GODDAMN IT!
The Jedi Order look arrogant, stupid, or incompetent because they were given information by the writers that they did not know before. The Jedi couldn't stop Order 66 because they didn't know the clone army had been created by the Sith...
... until Dave Filoni fucked everything up.
I have no idea if it was originally Filoni's idea, but he was the show-runner. The buck stops with him.
This problem is less of prominent in the Fives arc. There, the Kaminoans had an explanation for the chips ready. It wasn't a great one, but as long as nothing else happens that the Jedi should find suspicious is revealed, there won't be any reason—
GODDAMN IT!
The writers of this show took little care when it came to what information they revealed to the Jedi. They put them in a position where, logically, they should be able to work out the secret, despite knowing that they can't. The Jedi aren't stupid. Or at least they weren't, before TCW assassinated them by way of incompetence.
Back when Mando season 2 was airing, I remember thinking that Felony was clearly angling to set up Grogu as the second Mandalorian Jedi, future leader of Mandalore.
I didn’t like it back then. I though it was dumb. I still think it’s dumb, but with the baffling stupidity of Season 3 and the looming horror of the Mandoverse movie, I miss being able to think that they had a plan, even a bad one.
